They said it was impossible. They pointed and laughed, and called it names. But, just as Batman's license holders have every right to pit him in a crossover battle against an alien hunter will dreadlocks, they may also call upon the Dark Knight to beat a fire-burping, undead ninja within an inch of its tortured life -- just as long as he doesn't go that extra inch, ya know? (Off topic: So is Two-Face dead or what?) Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe is very real folks, and here's the box art to prove it:

I confess. I haven't touched the Mortal Kombat series since Trilogy on N64, and even then my interest had waned. The peak came in 1993 or thereabouts with MKII, so you can imagine the eyebrow raise when associate producer Hector Sanchez told me Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe was taking it back to that iconic memory. Stopping short of digitized sprites and random outbursts of weirdness, MK vs. DC does succeed as an accessible fighter that's mostly contained on a two-dimensional plane. Call it "casual" -- Midway does.

Game development has become ridonkulously expensive, and if you're creating a project within a niche genre, like a fighting game, you'd best sell out if you want to be around long enough to make another game. That's a harsh way to qualify what's happening all around the industry -- and let's be clear: MK vs. DC in no way stoops to the level of Castlevania Judgment -- but somehow "casual" has become careless, as if developers are afraid ordinary consumers won't appreciate good art. A certain amount of color, call it the "Noob Saibot" effect, seems wiped from the MK canvas. Gone is that unsophisticated humor that was always charming, if not entirely professional. (Where's that "Toasty" guy? What ever happened to reverting opponents to diapered infants?) With this in mind, and DC legal breathing down Midway's neck (we wouldn't want Supe's golden-boy reputation tarnished, not with a movie reboot possible, would we?), the team is tiptoeing to a final release.

Cash-strapped Midway is so down in the dumps lately that it has struck a deal for $40 million from National Amusements to help pay for the manufacturing costs of the company's holiday lineup. National Amusements, which owns and operates movie theaters around the globe, will help the company in producing TNA iMPACT!, Blitz: The Leagues II and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.

Midway recently lost a trio of executives and fired around 100 people as it hit losses of almost $70 million in just the first two quarters of this year. Hopefully, the Christmas cash will give the company some bigger spoons for scooping the water out of the ship.

The queue of people looking to take advantage of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe's plot devices and punch Superman to death continues to grow, with a unconfirmed list of Xbox 360 Achievements revealing several previously unannounced characters. The relatively straightforward challenges task players with performing the "expert combos" for several kombatants, both known -- Batman, The Joker, Scorpion etc. -- and until now, unknown.

The latter category features intergalactic menace Darkseid, sinister slap-head Lex Luthor and Outworld favorite Baraka, who probably wasn't hugged much as a child. Peer past the break for the complete list of known characters while we poke Midway for confirmation.

Update: One curt comment: "Midway has not officially released the Xbox 360 achievements for MK vs. DCU."
Update 2: Midway has just confirmed the full lineup of characters. You'll find 'em all after the break.

So what's the problem with the Joker's Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe fatality (seen at about 3:40 into the video after the break)? Well, nothing per se, it's a perfectly silly, violent way for the criminal mastermind to finish off his foes, and is actually surprisingly brutal for the game's Teen rating.

No, the only real problem is what the attack isn't. As fans of The Dark Knight know, the Joker's real fatality is blindingly obvious. Because, honestly, who doesn't love a good magic trick?

Much like the real Vegas, you go into this Games Convention 2008 trailer thinking that you're going to come out a winner, but, when all is said and done, you're none the richer for it. It's more or less a sweep through the game's copyright-skirting lineup of faux casinos with a hint of driving and a logo to assure viewers that, yes, This is Vegas.

Though the game / "lifestyle sim" has been delayed until next year, Midway nevertheless had it on display at E3 so we could proclaim: This is our Hands-on with This is Vegas. Two new screens head up the gallery below. Meanwhile, we anxiously await the inevitable sequels: This is Lodi, This is Jasper, and This is Hoboken.

That's right! As Vin Diesel so eloquently points out, he's a wheelman, not an assassin. Of course, this dramatic scene takes place just after he's mowed down countless bad guys and destroyed half the city in a dramatic and collision-filled car chase. It's all a bit frantic, frankly, but at least we have The Wheelman's lead mission designer, Mark Thompson, to guide us through the broken glass and mangled metal. Don't forget to check out fresh screenshots in the gallery below!

Let's put a smile on that face by checking out Midway's latest batch of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe screenshots, rife with cross-dimensional brawling and enough continuity issues to drive fanboys round the bend. While you enjoy the sight of The Joker blasting Scorpion right out of the Batcave or the Green Lantern putting the squeeze on Shang Tsung, we'll frantically attempt to figure out how Ed Boon managed to steal all our closeted fan fictions.

If these guys don't pummel your fancy, Midway has also informed us that series stalwarts Raiden and Kano will join the game's kombatants, along with the DC universe's Wonder Woman and Deathstoke.

It's the hottest thing for Hollywood fat cats to do: In-between making things explode and vacationing, they'll attach their name to a video game so, as long as the young people of the universe are spending more and more time away from the movieplex, at least they're spending time with your (brand) name. Peter Jackson; Steven Spielberg; John Woo; Jerry Bruckheimer; Vin Diesel – you get the idea.

Variety is reporting that Tony "Top Gun" Scott was similarly attached to Midway's recently canceled – albeit never announced – Austin project, Career Criminal. Of course, Midway won't confirm the information since, well, it never announced that the game existed in the first place, remember? The silver lining: Scott's free to work on our long-dreamed-of video game adaptation of The Last Boy Scout. Think about it: Bruce Willis' likeness and voice, that's the stuff hits are made of.

Midway Austin is expected to lay off as many as 90 200 employees within the next 30 days and has canceled development of "Criminal," a source told Joystiq today. The significant downsizing would follow last week's departure of three high-ranking Midway execs in the wake of another dismal financial quarter. Gamasutra partially corroborates today's news, reporting that its sources have confirmed that some layoffs occurred late last week at the Austin office. Additional information about the status of Criminal (or even what is was!) has yet to be detailed. The mysterious IP was first reported to be in development two years ago.

We have reached out to Midway for further clarification on the status of the Austin studio and its projects, and will update as soon as we obtain a statement.

Update: Midway has issued a press release detailing the layoffs and game cancellation (note: emphasis ours): "Midway Games Inc. today announced that it has canceled an as-yet-unannounced project in production in its Austin, TX, facility, and as a result Midway will have a reduction in force of a portion of the affected development team. The studio will remain open and will continue to operate both the Company's Central Outsourcing Group as well as two teams that are working on unnamed prototype projects intended to expand Midway's portfolio of new intellectual property ... The workforce reduction will affect approximately 90 of the 130 people currently employed in the studio." [Thanks, dvnt]

Just a day after learning of another blood-red quarter at Midway, with $34.8m lost in its second quarter, Kotaku brings word of a trio of high-level departures from the beleaguered publisher including Mike Bilder, head of Midway's internal Chicago studio, currently tasked with bringing Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe and Blitz: The League II to market.

Also gone: Mona Hamilton, veep of marketing, and Reilly Brennan, director of media relations. Midway confirmed all three departures, and said that Bilder accepted a senior management position with another Chicagoland dev (any ideas, Joystiqland?). There are two additional rumored departures, but Midway's apparently not ready to talk about them yet. That's fine. For now we'll just add these three to the list we've already got going, right there next to these two guys and the company's CEO.

It's not getting any prettier at Midway Games, as the publisher has announced it lost $34.8 million this quarter -- over double its losses the same quarter last year. This also follows Q1 losses of $34 million for the company, bringing this red-soaked mess of a year to almost $69 million in losses.

Matt Booty, Midway's interim president and CEO, believes that Midway's lineup later this year, consisting of Blitz: The League II and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, will "expand the audience beyond their core fan bases." We know it's sweet to try and make quotes from the Nintendo playbook, but we just don't have the heart to tell him that Midway isn't Nintendo. The financial rivers will continue to flow red as Midway expects another multi-million loss during Q3.

The online edition of UK gaming magazine Edge, formerly Next Gen, has come forward with what the proprietors feel exemplifies the top 20 game publishers the industry has to offer. Based on what we're sure represents a complicated formula of revenue, momentum, catalog, and review scores, the magazine found Nintendo to be the absolute crème of the crop, though we imagine it'll be difficult to make out the company's acceptance speech from beneath all that money.

Other notables include Actilizzard and EA, which took home the silver and bronze medals, respectively, while Midway managed to break out of Arkham Asylum just in time to claim the list's 20th -- and final -- spot.

We don't know how you feel about Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe but we've gone from absolute bewilderment to an almost embarrassing desire for the full version. If you're still on the doubters' side of the fence, we'd like to humbly suggest only that you watch the above video, a boatload of gameplay narrated by your friend and ours, Ed Boon.

It all looks sort of cool, but we have a hard time getting past the part where Superman runs Scorpion through seven walls without picking up the phone to pre-order the game. We can't even watch it anymore because after call number 9, the guy at Gamestop was starting to get downright rude. What say you on it?